Exploring art events in and around NYC

August 2009

08/31/2009

Last week I hopped on the R train for a visit to The Brooklyn Historical Society in Brooklyn Heights. The Brooklyn Historical Society is an "urban history center dedicated to preserving and encouraging the study of Brooklyn's extraordinary 400-year history." Housed in a Queen Anne-style building completed in 1881 and designed by George B. Post, the Society more than likely has the answers to all your questions regarding the borough dating back to the days when it was under Dutch rule and called Breukelen in the 1630's through to its British take-over in 1664 and up to today's hipster/stroller-brigade domination.

The Society is home to a fine art collection consisting of approximately 400 paintings and thousands of prints, drawings and works on paper from the 17th-20th centuries as well as a number of decorative art pieces and artifacts. Many of the paintings can be viewed throughout the four-story building grouped in categories like "Portraits of Prominent New Yorkers" and "Historical Views of and from Brooklyn."

The photography collection includes a database of 35,000 images as well as between 10-20,000 positives, negatives, slides, and transparencies featuring Brooklyn notables like Coney Island, Grand Army Plaza, and The Brooklyn Dodgers. It also boasts an impressive collection of historical postcards, some of which depict the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and a compilation of Brooklyn neighborhoods shot between the mid-1800's to the mid-1950's.

Some of the special exhibitions currently on view include No Jheri Curls & No Drugs: A David Lee Photo Exhibition which features over 40 intimate, black-and-white photographs of Spike Lee and his cast and crew during the production of She's Gotta Have It (1986) in Brooklyn taken by the director's brother David Lee (through September 1). Living and Learning: Chinese Immigration, Restriction & Community in Brooklyn, 1850 to Present which featured time-lines, photos of documentation, and summaries regarding the hardships and racism Chinese immigrants endured when first arriving to the U.S. and settling in Brooklyn (through August 30th). In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn's Vietnam Veterans which displays portraits, photos, souvenirs, mementos, and medals belonging to Vietnam Veterans from Brooklyn and allows visitors to listen to audio from each discussing their memories of the war.

The Brooklyn Historical Society is a must for history buffs as well as those newbie Brooklynites who relentlessly insist on their borough's superiority over Manhattan. Perhaps they can learn some interesting facts about their neighborhood so they can more intelligently back up their claim. For more info, visit Brooklynhistory.org.

08/28/2009

The Michael Werner Gallery presents Golddust Is My Ex-Libris, a solo show of six pieces by Detroit-born artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997) consisting of five ink drawings on circular pieces of gold paper and one gilded 19th-century divan.

According to the press release, Byars moved to Japan in 1958 when he was 26 and lived and worked there for ten years. While there he "developed his affinity for the notions of perfection, question and ceremony that would become the hallmarks of his life and work..." Many of Byars exhibits/performances contain the word "perfect" in the titles, ie: The Perfect Love Letter (1974), The Perfect Kiss (1975), The Perfect Performance is to Stand Still (1976), The Perfect Quiet (1984), The Perfect Thought (1990). It was also during his time in the Far East that he developed an "appreciation for the inherent beauty of materials, including paper, fabric, stone and gold..." materials that he would continually use in his work throughout the years. Byars was also know to work with specific shapes and forms like circles, cylinders, and pyramids.

Many of these characteristics can be found in Golddust is My Ex-Libris. Byars' gilding a divan certainly helps the lounger appear "perfect" though oddly, his works on paper do not really appear so. In these ink drawings of clusters of black stars - some appear slightly sloppy and a couple are drawn on paper with prominent fold creases. To claim "golddust" one's ex libris opens the door for high expectations, and while these works are appealing enough, they confirm that old adage: all that glitters is not gold.

08/27/2009

The Skarstedt Gallery, located in a grandiose brownstone on East 79th Street currently has on view Self-Portraits by 9 contemporary artists. As the show's press release states, "The approach to self-portraiture has been most frequently executed via four specific genres noted in art history and they are often categorized by the following iconographical themes: Glory, Desire, The Masquerade and Fading."

Andy Warhol's series of five Self-Portraits from 1966-1967 (my pic below) as well as German artist Albert Oehlen's Self portrait with Open Mouth, 2001, both fall into the Glory category while Detroit-born/L.A.-based Mike Kelley's adorable Ahh... Youth, 1990 (my pic below), is tucked into the Desire category because the seven photos of stuffed animals surrounding the photograph of the artist represent items that were once desired. If the second photo from the left of an orange, knit creature with antennae looks familiar, you've likely seen it on the cover of Sonic Youth's 1992 album, Dirty. (Sonic Youth also used a painting by Gerhard Richter for their 1988 album, Daydream Nation and a Richard Prince piece for 2004's Sonic Nurse.) See the band's arty discography here.

Yasumasa Morimura joins Cindy Sherman in The Masquerade group as both artists tend to use costumes and props to "alter their appearances" in their photographs. In his Daughter of Art History (Princess A), 1990, Morimura dressed as Infanta Margarita from Diego Velazquez's 1956 work, not hiding his age, race or gender and "exposing the influence Western art had on him as a Japanese man."

German artist Martin Kippenberger's works on view fall into the Fading group as they reveal his vulnerability as well as "the fading of his health." See my pic of his Untitled piece from 1996 drawn on a piece of stationary from the Hotel Im Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna. Kippenberger died the following year of liver cancer at the age of 44.

Self-Portraits also includes works by John Coplans, Robert Mapplethorpe (my pic below) and Rudolf Stingel. See Skarstedt.com for more info. Through September 4th.

08/26/2009

Fashion designer, television host, and ham, Isaac Mizrahi has added curator to his resume and organized the group show, Summer Pictures, for the Julie Saul Gallery. Selecting his favorite artists, Mizrahi compiled a sugary, pastel-hued group of works that are slightly juvenile, both in content and style. As the show's press release states, "Although extremely diverse in terms of age and aesthetics, the group is unified by an original, sophisticated and compelling sense of color and a sensual, joyful quality."

Most of the works convey a childlike innocence, breeziness and whimsy. Summer Pictures is much like beach reading - light, easy and not very complicated. See more at Saulgallery.com. Through September 12th.

When leaving the Saul Gallery, I stopped by the Friedrich Petzel Gallery located in the lobby of the same building. I wanted to check out The Audio Show before it ended. It was difficult to get to and from the elevators without hearing any of the pieces being played in the space.

The Audio Show continuously played 7 hours of "story telling, field recordings, music, interviews, artworks, elements segregated from installations, whatever each artist cares to broadcast." There was a set schedule for the exhibition, except the last hour of each day (5:00-6:00pm) was request hour - so visitors could pick and choose what they wanted to hear from the program featuring over 30 artists.

While this is a very interesting concept, I do wish they had some seating in the empty, white room equipped only with speakers mounted in the corners. Dependent on what's playing, I think I could have gotten sucked into this for a while which is why I also wish that I'd arrived at a different time. When I was there, Charlie White's OMG BFF LOL We Love to Shop, 2009 was playing. It consisted of teen girls chattering away in their like, you know, omg, totally teen- speak. I couldn't even handle that talk when I was still a teen myself many moons ago. It ended with over a minute of a young girl sobbing in Final takecrying. It made me want to cry and get out of there asap! Hopefully others were luckier with their timing when they dropped by. Learn more and see list of contributing artists at Petzel.com. Ended August 23rd.

08/25/2009

Talented though whack fashion designer Vivienne Westwood recently declared on a British television talk-show, "Dirt is patina!" She was, in her odd manner, trying to offer fashion tips for tough economic times, encouraging recycling, repurposing and investing in quality pieces (ie: hers). She suggested, "Forget all this business with the washing machine and buying all these clothes. Choose well, if it's dirty, don't bother. Dirt is patina. It's patina." You can watch her ramblings here.

The reason I bring this up is while I do not agree with her "dirt is patina" mantra (is dirt the new black?) that statement rang through the hazy space between my ears while I was at Mark Cohen's solo show, True Color, at Hasted Hunt. Cohen snaps pictures of children and their working class parents and/or grandparents in his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he is still based.

The closely cropped photos, mostly taken in the 70's and recently printed as color dye transfers, are colorfully vivid and a bit cinema verite in the way that he captures his neighbors naturally going about their business or the kids playing on the streets. He didn't try to clean up or pretty things up for the photos - he showed these people exactly as they were. Though he definitely focused more on the younger generation, the few images of adults on display show a weariness in their expressions and posture. The bright hues of the children's clothing contrast with the greyness of their environment and of the dirt encrusted in the fibers of their sweaters and jeans, under their fingernails, and on a plush toy. While my OCD typically makes me wince at the sight of dirt, in these images, the dirt is somewhat like "patina." Grit is a reality in these people's lives and is the end result of a long day of hard work or play and is not an affectation of a spoiled, clueless fashion-type trying to be politically correct and fabulous.

Cohen's intimate photos transport you back to childhood - of playing on the streets with your neighborhood friends, getting into trouble, getting dirty - in essence, just being kids. See more at Hastedhunt.com. Through August 28th.

OneRed Glove, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Three Boys Posing, Wilkes-Barre, PA, 1975 (I love this one. They look like a Brooklyn indie band. Actually, since this was taken in 1975, they probably were in one a few years back...)

08/24/2009

I checked out two more galleries contributing in the New York Photographs exhibition last week. My first stop was Julie Saul Gallery on West 22nd Street for Bill Jacobson's 3 large-scale (50x60") prints from his New Year's Day series. Jacobson shot these street scenes in 2002/2003 and deliberately made the photos out-of-focus so they reflect "collective dreams and memory" and/or suggest "loss and passage of time." This fuzzy effect along with the scale of the prints give them a painterly/impressionistic quality and dreamy feel. Read more at Saulgallery.com. Through September 12th.

I next headed down to Hasted Hunt Gallery on West 20th Street for their collection of pictures of The Statue of Liberty. With shots dating from the 19th Century to today, there were some interesting perspectives and views of Madame Liberty. I honestly wasn't sure what could be done differently with such a recognizable figure, but some surprising vantage points and romanticized scenes were employed by the photographers. My favorites were Bruce Davidson's moody, urban Statue of Liberty Seen Through Antennas, 1959, Lou Stoumen's vertigo-inducing View Down from the Statue of Liberty, 1940, and Margaret Bourke-White's up-skirt shot, Statue of Liberty, New York, 1930. See more at Hastedhunt.com. Through August 28th.

08/21/2009

Another gallery participating in the multi-venue New York Photographs summer exhibition that I mentioned here is the Bonni Benrubi Gallery on 57th Street. Currently on view at the gallery is Live From New York... a group of photographs of musicians either performing in or just chilling around New York City from the 1940's until the late 1970's. The 25 photos feature a diverse mix of musically inclined subjects, including Igor Stravinsky, Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, Chubby Checker, Ray Charles, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, and The Ramones. Images of iconic venues are also on display featuring The Metropolitan Opera, The Filmore East, Max's Kansas City, The Apollo Theater, and CBGB.

Bill Ray's work figures prominently with his on-stage shots of Ray Charles, Ethel Merman, Chubby Checker, and Bob Dylan performing with George Harrison, along with his rear-view shot of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to JFK in Madison Square Garden in 1962 in all her glamour-gal glory with her cotton-candy hair and form-fitting, reportedly sewn-on, sparkly dress. Linda McCartney's photos (yes, the one from The Wings) are also featured, including a candid shot of Jimi Hendrix hanging out in Central Park, The Door's Jim Morrison performing at Ondine's, and The Rolling Stones - still youthful, attractive, and in their prime. Amalie Rothschild's pieces include Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead each performing at The Filmore East.

Perhaps the best-know rock photographer of the group, Bob Gruen, is represented with his images of Sonny and Cher hamming it up on the street, Bob Marley performing in Central Park, Mick Jagger on stage at Madison Square Garden, The Ramones in front of CBGB, and his famous image of a bespectacled John Lennon wearing a New York City t-shirt in front of a NYC skyline.

This show demonstrates the history and relationship music has always had with this city. The timing of this show segues nicely with the 40th anniversary celebrations of Woodstock as many of the featured musicians are from that wacky, free-lovin' generation. See more at Bonnibenrubi.com. Through September 5th.

08/20/2009

I'm admittedly like a little girl when it comes to horses - I just love them! I really, really do! So you can imagine my joy when I came upon the spacious Soho gallery filled with Roberto Dutesco's oversized, sepia-toned and black-and-white photographs of The Wild Horses of Sable Island. Dutesco was born in Romania in 1961 and relocated to Canada in the early 80's before opening a studio in New York in 1992 and becoming a successful fashion photographer. He first traveled to Sable Island, Nova Scotia in 1994 and captured the spirit of the beautiful, majestic, noble wild horses there via photographs exhibiting their strength and athleticism, sense of family and camaraderie, and their deep, expressive eyes. The next 14 years repeatedly brought Dutesco back to Sable Island for more photographs and/or film footage for a black-and-white short film, Sable Horses (2000) which inspired a feature documentary for Bravo titled Chasing Wild Horses (2008).

Notes for the show state that Sable Island is approximately the length of Manhattan and the width of Central Park. It's been the host of 275 shipwrecks since the early 17th-century, whose only known survivors were the horses - who now happen to be the only living mammals on the island. Somewhere between 175-450 of these horses live on the island today in bands consisting of 2-10 members of varying sexes and ages, though many males are known to wander in "loosely structured all-male groups" or "bachelor groups" and older stallions are said to wander solo (as loners... rebels). The horses are on the smaller side, with males weighing between 270-360 kg (595-790 lb) and measuring about 140 cm (~ 4.5 ft) from the withers (shoulders). Females tend to be smaller. They are said to most resemble the Spanish barb and/or the Acadian horse.

In 2006, The Wild Horses of Sable Island, photoworks by Roberto Dutesco curated by Peter Tunney opened at 13 Crosby Street in Soho, showcasing over 125 gorgeous, large-scale photos of these wonderful creatures. You don't have to be a little girl to swoon over the breath-taking photographs of these magnificent animals. To learn more about Dutesco and The Wild Horses of Sable Island, go to dutescoart.com, where you can also see his pictures of the horses (my iPhone pics below don't do them any justice.) Through 2010.

08/19/2009

Last Friday was the perfect day to embark on the free, five-minute ferry ride from the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan over to the eerie-fabulousness of Governors Island. It's like another world or a land-lost-in-time over there and it's a quick and easy get-away! Governors Island is a 172-acre island situated 800 yards from Lower Manhattan and 400 yards from Brooklyn. For more than two centuries, the site was used as a military base for the US Army and then the Coast Guard. In 2003, the Federal Government sold Governors Island to the City and State of New York for $1 and it has since been opened to the public as a park (Friday - Sunday from May - October), housing acres of green fields and trees, an 18th-century fortress, an abandoned movie theater, Officer's Club, church, and vacant Victorian Houses.

According to Leslie Koch, President of Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the island "welcomes artist projects that animate [its] houses and buildings left vacant since 1997. In the future, there will be a variety of opportunities for artists to create installations that are integrated into the landscape." This season's exhibition, This World & Nearer Ones is the most ambitious one held on the island so far and helps "deepen the visitor's experience of the island." Organized by Creative Time, the wonderful organization that's been introducing audiences to artists and public art for the past 35 years (both in New York and around the country), 19 artists and collectives were commissioned for This World & Nearer Ones to create site-specific works inspired by Governors Island. This World & Nearer Ones was curated by Creative Time's Mark Beasley.

The President of Creative Time, Anne Pasternak, says Beasley found inspiration in Governors Island's "present-day state of suspension between its history as a military outpost and its developing future." To help interpret the island's grounds, history, and future, she says Beasley invited the artists to "activate sites including fortresses, churches, and theaters, as well as ferries, piers, and trees." According to Beasley, the resulting projects raise questions regarding "certainty and the future" of the island. He continues, "The prevailing mood of the exhibition is one of doubt, tempered by the possibility of new beginnings... Many of the artists have responded to the island's sense of loss, of being something vacated, a place that exists post-life, emptied of human inhabitants." The works in This World & Nearer Ones "deal with or suggest the dialectic of presence and absence.... Governors Island is a modern ruin on the verge of rehabilitation. The works assembled in the exhibition employ Spiritualism, science fiction, poetry, spoken word, tonality and dissonance, temporary architecture, and the projected image to reflect displaced states and the neither/nor."

Even before arriving to the island you get to see two artworks from the exhibition - one on the ferry and one at the dock. Ferry, by British artist Mark Wallinger, is a simple piece consisting of two signs: "Goats" (on the left) and "Sheep" (on the right), both on the front and back railings of the upper deck of the ferry. The signs, written in thick, black, sans serif font on white backgrounds, "are not meant to divide people as they walk aboard the vessel, but rather to encourage each passenger to consider the moments in life when she or he must assess the options, weigh the pros and cons, and choose a side." Going to Governors Island, we selected "Sheep," and coming back to Manhattan, we opted for the center of the ferry which is closest to the exit - how's that for a smart choice?

New York and Amsterdam-based Lawrence Weiner's At the Same Moment, 2000, can be found emblazoned in red, enamel letters on the fender rack that guides the ferry in and out of dock. According to the exhibit's guidebook, "Weiner is a sculptor whose medium is language. His texts describe material processes and physical conditions; they delineate space and indicate location." This piece is a study of the "relationship between language and physical site." It "invites us to consider the spatial and temporal relations between two distinct places, and the ferry journey that links them together." Unfortunately, people seemed too busy admiring the awesome views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty to contemplate Weiner's concepts.

Teresa Margolles' contribution is Muro Baleado/Shot-Up Wall, a found item - a cinder block wall from her native Culiacan, Mexico (also known as "Narco City"), riddled with bullet holes in the aftermath of a drug/gang execution that took place in front of it. The opening weekend of the exhibition, a masonry crew from Mexico installed the relocated wall in Nolan Park. It's a jarring and startling piece to find in the middle of such an idyllic, grassy, and peaceful environment.

British-born artist, Anthony McCall's, Between You and I, 2009, is a light sculpture mounted inside the empty Saint Cornelius Chapel. Two lights are projected from high above on the ceiling of the chapel emitting two lasso-like rays of light that form shapes and dance together and mingle with the visitors walking around in the darkness. The mixture of the soft, white light and the mist created by haze machines form ghost-like images that make you feel as if you can reach out and touch them. You can't help but keep looking up at the light, unintentionally reenacting scenes from Close Encounters or any movie whose characters "see the light."

German artist, Klaus Weber's, Large Dark Wind Chime, 2008, is a 13-foot chime made of tempered aluminum that hangs from a tree on the Parade Ground. The chime rings in deep, melancholic tones - specifically a tritone, "a series of notes historically associated with the summoning of the Devil." The tritone was called "the Devil in music" in the 18th century and has been considered "dangerous" in its ability to "arouse the Devil" and/or "evoke sexual feelings in its listeners." It's like the original Heavy Metal!

Edgar Arceneaux's Sound Cannon Double Projection or "ghost house" in Building No 406A on Colonels Row suggests that hearing, seeing, or feeling spirits are mere sensory tricks associated with light and sound. The 2009 piece, created with CD players and subwoofers create an unsettling, eerie feeling within the empty house with peeling paint and crumbling walls. Arceneaux creates this uneasiness by emitting infrasound throughout the house. The guidebook defines infrasound as "very low-frequency sound waves below about 20Hz... [that] can induce bizarre feelings such as anxiety, extreme sorrow, paranoia, or even the chills. " The result is a very creepy feeling inside the house, giving it a haunted vibe. The feeling was strongest in the second floor kitchen where the room felt as if it was subtly vibrating. Yikes!

In the neighboring Building No 407A, AA Bronson and Peter Hobbs held a seance, Invocation of the Queer Spirits, two nights before the opening of the exhibition using "historical, queer and marginalized practices as a way to heal the past and acknowledge the present." The remnants of the seance can be spied by peeking through cut-out holes in a wooden barrier enclosing the rooms where the ritual took place. Lots of sage, candles, empty food containers, alcohol bottles, papers, tree limbs, carnival/pride beads, feathers, and a variety of other props complete the spooky scene.

You must get yourself and a group of friends over to Governors Island before the season is out. Go for the gorgeous and quiet (albeit slightly creepy and ghost-townish) scenery and for Creative Time's This World & Nearer Ones. It's a great exhibit that not only helps navigate you around the island, but introduces you to exciting, new artists, fascinating art projects, and uncommon mediums. Definitely worth the Disney-like ferry lines! Be sure to stop by Creative Time's Visitor Center on the island and pick up A Guide to This World & Nearer Ones ($5) as well as information on Creative Time. The guide is packed with info regarding Governors Island (including a map), the exhibition, the artists, and more (I got most of the info in this post from the guide.) Learn more about Creative Time here and find out more about Governors Island here.

08/18/2009

Also currently on view at The New Museum is Intersections Intersected: The Photography of David Goldblatt. Goldblatt documents life in his homeland, South Africa, both during and post-apartheid. Apartheid, which translates to "apartness" in Afrikaans, was legalized racial segregation and suppression in South Africa instituted when The National Party took power in 1948 and lasted until 1994.

David Goldblatt was born in 1930 in Randfontein, South Africa, the son of Lithuanian Jews who settled in South Africa to escape persecution in their homeland. A self-taught photographer, Goldblatt began professionally taking pictures in the early 60's, shooting assignments for magazines and corporations. His images captured the National Party and the effects of apartheid on both blacks and whites. His photographs tend to be quiet studies of human nature and their ability to cope, often capturing people just going about their everyday lives.

Goldblatt takes beautiful pictures of unpretty circumstances and his photos really capture the heat of South Africa - both in terms of the searing temperatures as well as simmering tensions. His landscapes (arid fields) and architectural pieces (old, decrepit buildings) can act as analogies for the difficulties of his subjects' lives. His black-and-white portraits are especially beautiful and poignant. As the show's notes state, "His photographs convey a sense of vulnerability as well as dignity," and his portraits do just that. These intimate portraits show people, who despite living under extreme injustices, still exhibit a tremendous amount of pride, fortitude and strength in the way that they carry themselves and gaze into the camera.

Goldblatt founded the Market Photography Workshop in Johannesburg in 1989 where "visual literacy" and photography are taught to as many as 250 young people, particularly "those disadvantaged by apartheid." According to Goldblatt, "The Workshop has been successful in creating an environment in which people of all races collaborate constructively." To learn more about David Goldblatt and the Market Photography Workshop see Goodman-gallery.com. To learn more about Intersections Intersected, go to Newmuseum.org. Through October 11th.